Provincial rules around alcohol and the federal government's "Buy Canadian" policy have been flagged in a new report citing several trade irritants between Canada and the U.S. The annual document prepared by the Office of the United States Trade Representative said market access barriers imposed by provincial liquor control boards "greatly hamper" exports of U.S. wine, beer and spirits to...
Canada "condemns" Israel's "illegal" invasion of Lebanon as a violation of territorial sovereignty, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday. Using stronger language than his government has used to date, Carney also called for a ceasefire to end the worsening conflict as Israeli ground troops move deeper into the country. "It's an illegal invasion," the prime minister said. "It's a violation...
Prime Minister Mark Carney told a closed-door fundraiser crowd Monday night that floor-crossing MP Michael Ma represents “Liberal values,” after the former Conservative politician drew controversy over comments about forced labour in China. In video obtained by Global News, Carney told the crowd at the GTA fundraiser that the Liberals were “glad” to welcome Ma to their ranks after the...
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the federal government to cancel a proposed high-speed rail line between Toronto and Quebec City. Speaking to reporters in Peterborough, Ont., on Tuesday, Poilievre called the project a "boondoggle" that would waste taxpayer dollars. "Carney Liberals will confiscate farmland and private property, disrupting communities and harming the quality of life of local residents...
Human rights. Equality for women. The plight of African families decimated by HIV-AIDS. Stephen Lewis spent a lifetime fighting for causes close to his heart -- and his weapons of choice were words. Lewis died on Tuesday, at the age of 88, after an eight-year battle with stomach cancer. "Stephen spent the last eight years of his life battling cancer...
The Weekly Nanos Tracking is produced by the Nanos Research Corporation, headquartered in Canada, which operates in Canada and the United States. The data is based on random interviews with 1,000 Canadian consumers (recruited by RDD land- and cell-line sample), using a four-week rolling average of 250 respondents each week, 18 years of age and over. The random sample of...
The latest polling from Liaison Strategies shows Mark Carney’s Liberal Party posting a 12-percentage-point lead over the Conservatives among decided and leaning voters, down from a 14-percentage-point lead from last week. The survey finds the Liberals with 45% support, followed by the Conservatives at 33% and the NDP at 9%. Liaison surveyed a random sample of 1,000 Canadians from March...
There’s a scene in Prime Minister, the acclaimed documentary about Jacinda Ardern, where the former New Zealand prime minister is captured in a private moment: raw, unguarded, visibly carrying the weight of leading a country through catastrophe.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is not oblivious. He knows, as any reasonable person would, that it looks terrible for one of his MPs to try to undermine an expert witness on forced labour in China during a parliamentary committee meeting. Last week, Liberal MP Michael Ma grilled Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa, about whether she...
Conservative staffer Stefan Kapuran doesn’t remember how he ended up in the hospital. “It was just a completely regular Monday. The night before was my birthday,” he recalled, having not done “anything crazy” to celebrate. The 25-year-old said he remembers starting his workday on March 9, picking up the dry cleaning as he headed into the office of Conservative MP...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says he has "absolutely not" been considering proroguing Parliament if he gains a majority in a series of upcoming byelections. Speaking at a news conference with reporters in Wakefield, Que., today, the prime minister said the idea "never even entered" his mind. The Globe and Mail newspaper reported the Carney government is considering proroguing Parliament if...
There has been a lot of debate in recent weeks about the province’s decision to take over the City of Toronto’s role in the agreement governing Billy Bishop Airport and to acquire the city-owned lands at the airport. Some have asked why the province would take such a step. The answer is that Billy Bishop is a critical piece of...
I have an urgent request for Prime Minister Mark Carney: please come to Vaughan, Ont., to meet with our Jewish community. As Vaughan’s mayor, I want you to know that Jews here feel angry, scared, defiant, tired, shocked and beleaguered. Who can blame them? I’ve lived my entire life in this country, but I have never before witnessed the shocking...
It’s back to the future for the NDP — and then some. Last weekend the party elected 58-year-old filmmaker Avi Lewis as party leader. During his campaign, Lewis pledged to impose a wealth tax, stop oil and gas exploration, implement national rent control, and set up public grocery stores. Ed Broadbent, the NDP leader who wanted to nationalize banks back...
Some Liberals, Conservatives and even New Democrats may be tempted to believe that the new NDP leader, Avi Lewis, is too far out there on the left to be a serious electoral threat. That underestimation may be a mistake. I’ve heard some serious people say over the course of the NDP leadership that a Lewis victory would spell the end...
Whenever and wherever U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed up in Minneapolis this past winter, citizens pulled out their whistles – warning away the targets of U.S. President Donald Trump’s violent masked paramilitaries. Demonstrators attempted to block ICE from carrying out its work, while others served as witnesses, videotaping the agents to show their behaviour to the world...
The federal NDP, now run by cis male Avi Lewis, showed us two kinds of crazy at their leadership convention on the weekend. First, there was social crazy, with arguments over whose victimized identity deserved time at the mic. Delegates who have identified with the same gender assigned at birth — “cis” people — didn’t have much chance. Then came...
The federal NDP convention in Edmonton in 2016 was the scene of two fascinating events: the unceremonious dumping of Tom Mulcair as party leader and a rhetorical clash between Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and the supporters of a broad statement of principles known as the Leap Manifesto. Notley, less than a year into leading the first NDP government in Alberta's...
There are moments that reveal a nation’s character more clearly than any policy platform or political speech. One such moment came in the summer of 1972, when Idi Amin decreed the expulsion of Uganda’s entire Asian population, and the fate of thousands of terrified families hung in the balance. Discussions between Aga Khan IV and Pierre Elliott Trudeau – two...
With the easy part over, newly minted NDP Leader Avi Lewis knows his real challenge is just beginning. He inherits a divided party, a split Parliamentary caucus and provincial wings opposed to his agenda. The Alberta and Saskatchewan parties want nothing to do with him. Saskatchewan’s NDP Leader Carla Beck wrote to tell him Saturday that she won’t meet with...
Can Avi Lewis’ brand of left-wing populism win over Canadian voters? It’s what he and the NDP are hoping will happen, but as Lewis takes the reins of his party, he’s already causing division.
The conflict in the Persian Gulf and Iran’s missile and drone strikes on key oil and gas facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have caused fires, shutdowns, and extensive damage at major energy export hubs. Global oil and gas prices have surged. In addition to its impact on Canadian consumers, the crisis has driven up fuel and...
Imagine a Canada ruled by a “mini-Trump.” It’s not so implausible, lawyer Frédéric Bérard told the Supreme Court last week. Western nations are teeming with clones of the American president these days. If such an illiberal leader were to come here, Bérard argued, we would simply have to hope that our politicians do the right thing...
The president has dispatched thousands of troops to the Middle East where he is at war with Iran. There are wars of necessity, and wars of choice. Donald Trump has created a third category: wars of whimsy. When will Americans realize that three more years of Trump's chaos could end in unfixable catastrophe?
By now, it’s clear that no matter what kind of resolution U.S. President Donald Trump attempts to impose on his latest misadventure in Iran, this conflict and its global repercussions will be far from over. More likely, it will resemble George W. Bush’s infamous “mission accomplished” moment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003: a premature declaration of victory that...
The thing about Mark Carney’s government is that he’s not subtle about what he’s interested in – and what he’s not. When his cabinet was sworn in, the Prime Minister issued a single mandate letter for all his ministers containing just seven priorities wrapped relentlessly around economic development and sovereignty. And the way Mr. Carney has gone about tackling that...
While Liberal MP Michael Ma has belatedly apologized for questioning the veracity of expert testimony at a Commons committee hearing that China uses forced labour — claiming that was not his intent — cozying up to China has been mainstream Liberal thinking in a line stretching from Justin Trudeau to Mark Carney.
Standing in front of a massive pipe organ at Winnipeg’s Knox United Church on Thursday evening, NDP scion Avi Lewis was preaching to the converted. It was the eve of the party’s leadership convention, one that party members believe could seal the NDP’s fate. Will the next leader revive a nearly moribund federal party by inspiring new and past voters...
There is nothing really new about the New Democratic Party, founded as it was in 1961. Nor with six seats, is it an official party, according to the status rules of the House of Commons. It is however, still democratic and the leadership vote culminating this weekend will point the way to where the NDP — and the progressive left...
No one knows where Donald Trump got the notion of annexing Canada. It hasn’t been seriously suggested by any significant figure in American politics for at least a century. There has been next to no take-up of the proposal, even among his MAGA followers. But the underlying premises – the idea that America must have complete dominion over the Western...
Here is an evergreen news story if there ever was one: the Prime Minister’s official residence has problems. Yes, we are talking about that again – the PM’s digs. Except this time we aren’t talking about 24 Sussex. We’re talking about the cottage that the Prime Minister of Canada had to move into on the grounds of the Governor-General’s residence...
Sunday's coronation won't revive a dead federal party, but his extremist agenda will absolutely tank their provincial success stories. Pundits love to overcomplicate politics, but the math for this Sunday’s NDP leadership vote is painfully simple. For Avi Lewis to be denied a first-ballot victory, the other four candidates on the ballot need to somehow scrape together 50% plus one...
Impressive ambition. A needed boost for Canadian sovereignty. Some hope for industrial transition. But when you get down to the math, there is only half the equation. The figures are big. After touring a Royal Canadian Navy ship on Thursday, and boasting that Canada has finally met the NATO target for defence spending, Prime Minister Mark Carney made a point...
In a way, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer came full circle this week. In February 2013, as the term of the first parliamentary budget officer neared an end, the Official Opposition put a motion before the House of Commons calling for the independence of the office to be reinforced and for the term of Kevin Page to be...
The Supreme Court spent most of this week hearing oral arguments in what is widely known as the Bill 21 case, after the infamous Quebec law banning the wearing of religious symbols in much of the public sector – effectively a hiring bar on observant members of certain religious minorities. Only it isn’t really Bill 21 that is at issue...
Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin will not reveal whether the Alberta-Ottawa memorandum of understanding sets a target date of 2030 by which the province will hike its industrial carbon price to $130 a tonne. In November, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith signed a major new energy co-operation agreement, outlining the conditions that need to...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says a deadline for reaching two agreements connected to her landmark energy deal with Ottawa will be missed. The November memorandum of understanding outlined a number of commitments and steps both levels of government would take to eventually see a new bitumen pipeline built connecting Alberta to B.C. tidewater.
TC Energy chief executive officer Francois Poirier is again calling for major changes to Canada’s regulatory approach, warning the country is driving investment away by slowing down big energy projects. Speaking to the Canadian Club of Ottawa on Tuesday, Poirier said Canada continues to deter capital with lengthy permitting processes. “Capital goes where it is welcome. And for too long...
The byelection that returned Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to Parliament cost taxpayers more than $2.3 million, according to estimates released by Elections Canada. When Poilievre’s Conservatives were defeated in the April 2025 federal election, the Conservative leader also lost his Ottawa-area riding by more than 4,500 votes to Liberal newcomer Bruce Fanjoy. After more than two decades in Parliament, the...
The Liberal government's $3.8 billion nature protection strategy will put Canada's 2030 nature conservation goals within reach, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday. Announcing the new plan at an event in Wakefield, Que., Carney said the federal government will create new national parks, urban parks and marine conservation areas.
Canada Post says it’s moving ahead with the restructuring plan mandated by the federal government in the fall, which could permanently end door-to-door mail delivery. In an emailed statement to CTVNews.ca on Monday, the Crown corporation said the broad transformation of its business model will “ensure we can meet the evolving needs of Canadians without becoming a recurring burden on...
The federal government is set to extend its cap on an annual alcohol tax increase for another two years in a bid to rein in costs facing Canada's brewers, wineries and distilleries. Excise taxes on booze had faced annual increases pegged to inflation on April 1 each year, but the Liberal government has temporarily capped those hikes at two per...
More than three years after Canada and Germany promised to kick-start a transatlantic trade in a new clean fuel by 2025, another global crisis is putting supplies of natural gas at risk and Canada still has no green hydrogen for Europe to replace it with. Some of the projects in Atlantic Canada that then-leaders Justin Trudeau and Olaf Scholz hoped...
Starting April 1, eligible home buyers in Ontario will no longer have to shell out 13 per cent HST on new homes, according to the latest deal struck between the province and the federal government that was announced Monday. Additionally, the province, along with the federal government, have also agreed to spend an allotted $8.8 billion to lower Ontario’s municipal...
A longtime federal public servant says she’s become "collateral damage" as her department clears its backlog of Phoenix payroll issues so it can test replacement software — and in doing so introduced an error to her file, refused to fix it and is now clawing back hundreds of dollars per paycheque.
Along with the 49,000 vehicles arriving in Canada comes insight into China's innovative EV infrastructure. Hundreds of robots hum on a factory floor in Ningbo, just south of Shanghai, their long arms swooping and twisting, welding together different models of custom-ordered electric vehicles (EVs). Robots also move briskly in the corridors delivering parts to different areas of the plant, playing...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has committed to not proroguing Parliament in order to take control of House of Commons committees if the Liberals win three upcoming by-elections and form a slim majority.
EDMONTON -- Alberta's government is calling on Ottawa to change the Constitution to give provinces more of a say in how judges are appointed at the provincial level.
Former Alberta NDP leader says he's 'concerned' to see split between provincial, federal party. Speedy efforts to distance provincial New Democrats from the new-look federal party don't mean Albertans should expect any changes to the provincial orange brand. But Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi told reporters Monday that if members of the party want to have a conversation around changing...
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he isn't worried Mexico will sign a trade agreement with the Americans that excludes Canada. LeBlanc says the Mexicans are also committed to a trilateral deal as the countries work to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade. Mexico and the U.S. have started formal talks ahead of a July deadline, and earlier this month...
Prime Minister Mark Carney has started the process to fill the Supreme Court of Canada vacancy that will open up when Justice Sheilah Martin retires on May 30. The Montreal-born Martin trained in civil and common law before moving to Alberta to pursue work as an educator, lawyer and judge. She was named to the Supreme Court in 2017, and...
The Hill Times spoke with political insiders over the last month to nail down the list of people who are leading and influencing federal government policy and shaping public opinion this year. Here is our Top 100 Most Influential People in Government and Politics in 2026, organized by politicians, pollsters, political influencers, staffers, public servants, and media.
OTTAWA -- The federal and Ontario governments said Monday they will together invest billions of dollars in local infrastructure spending to help cities cut costly development fees and get more homes built.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is proposing major changes to its law governing citizen-led petitions for the third time in less than a year. Justice Minister Mickey Amery introduced Monday a bill that, if passed, would make it impossible to start a petition for a constitutional or policy referendum a year before or a year after a provincial election. Petitions...
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday he still planned to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser co-hosted by a Liberal MP who cast doubt on reports of China’s human-rights abuses against Uyghurs. Mr. Carney also defended Canada’s efforts to block imports of goods made with forced labour as this country prepares to allow Chinese-made electric vehicles back into the market. The...
Prime Minister Mark Carney defended Canada's approach to forced labour as one of his newest MPs continues to face backlash for appearing to cast doubt on the practice in China. Carney's response to Michael Ma's performance at committee last week comes during a sensitive moment in both Canada's attempts to reset ties with Beijing and the ongoing trade war with...
EDMONTON -- Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and members of her United Conservative government expressed their unwavering love for Canada today as the Opposition NDP accused them of harbouring a separatist.
An Ottawa craft brewer says rising alcohol taxes are among the factors that have pushed his business to the brink, as the federal government prepares to implement another automatic excise tax increase on April 1. Paul Meek, owner of Kichesippi Brewery, says this will be his final April 1 as a brewery owner as he moves to shut down operations...
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Liberal MP Michael Ma has apologized for comments he made last week seemingly questioning the issue of forced labour in China, and would not say whether he will face consequences. “Mr. Ma has apologized for his comments, as he should have,” Carney told reporters during a housing announcement with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto...
New NDP Leader Avi Lewis says “hard conversations” will be necessary as he takes the helm of the party amid public backlash for his leadership from provincial NDP leaders. “I do believe that hard conversations are necessary. I’m a person who actually welcomes them,” Lewis said while speaking to reporters in Winnipeg on Monday. Lewis won the leadership on Sunday...
The federal government has set aside about $1.5 billion to maintain and service the Royal Canadian Air Force's new fleet of Husky aircraft. Canada is acquiring nine CC-330 Husky tanker and transport aircraft -- four brand-new, five used -- to replace the aging CC-150 Polaris. The Defence Investment Agency announced three new contracts to support the tankers' continuous operations --...
The federal government says it will be consulting for the next four weeks on a national strategy to tackle financial scams targeting Canadians and businesses. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne is in Montreal today rolling out consultations for the national anti-fraud strategy first announced in the federal budget last fall. The federal government is looking for a strategy to avert fraud...
P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz says the RCMP have been alerted about a former cabinet minister's possible conflict of interest involving a permitting issue for a Summerside golf course. On Saturday, Lantz removed Gilles Arsenault as economic development minister, saying the minister had shown poor judgment when he was environment minister. The next day Lantz suspended Arsenault from the Progressive Conservative...
Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau will retire by the end of the third quarter after nearly two decades with the airline, the company said on Monday, a week after he made headlines by issuing an English-only message of condolence following the crash of Flight 8646 in New York.
Former Ontario NDP deputy leader Doly Begum says she spoke with Prime Minister Mark Carney before deciding to run for the federal Liberals, crediting him with an ability to unite people from across the political spectrum. Ms. Begum, who has previously criticized the federal government over its Middle East policy, was elected in the east Toronto riding of Scarborough Southwest...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Thousands of additional U.S. troops are heading to the Middle East as the Trump administration has insisted that progress has been made in talks with Iran and has threatened to escalate the war if a deal is not reached soon.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to suspend its construction of a $400 million ballroom where it demolished the East Wing of the White House, barring work from proceeding without congressional approval.
NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war pushes fuel prices higher worldwide.
The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said environmentalists' lawsuits threatened to hobble domestic energy supplies as the U.S. wages war against Iran.
Canada "condemns" Israel's "illegal" invasion of Lebanon as a violation of territorial sovereignty, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday. Using stronger language than his government has used to date, Carney also called for a ceasefire to end the worsening conflict as Israeli ground troops move deeper into the country. "It's an illegal invasion," the prime minister said. "It's a violation...
U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran have driven up prices, darkened the outlook for the world economy, sent global stock markets reeling and forced developing countries to ration fuel and subsidize energy costs to protect their poorest. Ongoing strikes and counterstrikes on Persian Gulf refineries, pipelines, gas fields and tanker terminals threaten to the prolong the global economic pain for...
Group of Seven foreign ministers met on Friday in France to discuss the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with deep divisions apparent over the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated complaints that America’s allies have ignored or rejected requests for help in the military operation and in confronting Iran’s retaliatory attacks, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz...
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is accusing U.S. President Donald Trump of fuelling the war in Iran to distract from the millions of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, also referred to as the “Epstein files,” saying the conflict is driving up gas prices for Canadians. In an interview with CTV’s Power Play with Vassy Kapelos on Tuesday, Kinew...
Democrat Emily Gregory won a special election for a Florida state House seat on Tuesday, flipping a district that is home to President Donald Trump's estate, Mar-a-Lago. The Republican president endorsed Gregory's rival, Jon Maples. In a social media post Monday, he urged voters to turn out, saying Maples was endorsed "by so many of my Palm Beach County friends."...
The controversy around Liberal MP Michael Ma’s comments on forced labour in China is an early test of how Prime Minister Mark Carney’s China policy is being put into practice — and whether it can remain pragmatic without drifting into equivocation, accommodation or self-censorship. Carney’s recalibration — toward a more interest-based approach aimed at stabilizing ties with Beijing while widening...
Canada is facing a housing affordability crisis that is placing a growing burden on households, particularly lower-income households, for whom housing and energy are already the largest areas of spending. Although the residential sector has reduced its GHG emissions since 2005, decarbonization has not progressed at the pace required to meet Canada’s 2030 and 2050 climate targets. Despite improvements in...
A collection of SubStack publishing within Canadian public affairs.
Canadian troops may be only days away from deploying to the Middle East to aid the U.S.’s and Israel’s war on Iran. The latest indication is a joint statement expressing concern about Iran’s restriction of oil tankers through the narrow Strait of Hormuz signed by Prime Minister Mark Carney and NATO allies late in the week.
Canadians who have neglected to pay their taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have been coming forward in droves to take advantage of new amnesty rules.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s spurious excuses for gutting the province’s freedom-of-information (FOI) law are exactly why we need transparency legislation in the first place: governments are habitual liars. Last week, the Ford government said it plans to weaken its sunshine law by erecting brick walls around every minister’s office, including the premier’s. Freedom-of-information requests will no longer be accepted. The...
There was a time when immigration was seen as not only important to Canada but something that was a major part of what made Canada great. Has that time passed, why and at what cost? Former Harper cabinet minister James Moore and former Trudeau senior advisor Gerald Butts have their thoughts on those questions in this, their latest "conversation".
Mark Carney has proposed a 1,000-kilometre high-speed rail line connecting Toronto to Quebec City, with trains reaching speeds of up to 300 km/h. It would be Canada’s first true high-speed rail system. On paper, the idea is appealing. But building it is far from straightforward. Host Noor Azrieh, tries to answer the question: how do you build ambitious, nation-shaping infrastructure...
On Sunday, the New Democratic Party elected Avi Lewis as its new leader. He takes the reins of a political party still reeling from losses in last year’s federal election, which cost them official party status and left them with only seven seats. Another blow came earlier this month, when Nunavut MP Lori Idlout defected to the Liberals. Without a...
Nearly a year after the federal NDP’s most devastating election result in history, the party declared Avi Lewis – who ran on a campaign of democratic socialism – its new leader. It was a decisive win – Lewis won over half of the 70,930 eligible votes cast. The turnout was high – at about 70 percent of membership. Avi Lewis...
